It was a beautiful sunny day today, so we decided to have a picnic down on the Somerset Levels. This is one of our regular haunts. It is brimming full of nature and is interesting for its archaeology and geology. Between you and me, it has the best blackberries in Autumn and the first yummy strawberries of the season. My kind of place.
That’s Glastonbury Tor in the distance. For the last few years we’ve stood at the top and watched the sun rise on the summer solstice. We used to go to Stonehenge, but with three children and all the crowds, it has sadly lost its appeal.
Back to the Somerset Levels. We didn’t have long, but, after the picnic, the children went toone of their favourite play parks. Can you imagine the joy of sitting on a toy tractor and seeing a real one go by, pulling a trailer? Yeh!
While we were on the levels, we saw the reed mace (bulrushes) were at their lovely fluffy stage. Some reeds had lost patches of their fuzzy seeds, maybe through birds using it to line their nests. We could see the brown velvety reed heads starting to appear. We brought one back to see is our birds will strip it. Not to tease the dog.
I’ve been keeping an eye on our little visitors, the Ashy Mining Bees, in our orchard. I love taking a moment to sit down and watch them. They buzz round me, seemingly unaware of my presence, weaving their intricate patterns. They were covering our yew tree, two days ago. I know the yew has berries. I had not thought of it having blossom, so I am guessing that they were after that. Do yews have blossom?
I waited till the evening, when the bees had gone to bed, to take this photo. They do go to bed a lot earlier than the Bumble Bees. Their holes are so perfect. The entrance is built up above the ground, with the most perfect round hole. It looks like someone has taken time to carefully smooth the inside of the hole. At night they climb in and back fill it with soil, to seal themselves in. I like these bees. Can you tell?
